When I was a teenager I would sometimes read a book a day. Classic space opera, new wave Brit stuff, French science fiction, science fiction from the Eastern Bloc. I revelled at the enormity of a writer’s imagination as he or she unveiled perplexing, alien worlds. I loved the challenge of struggling to understand what was going on – was the narrator even human? – and of dealing with strange concepts and new technologies. I loved being swept away in the grip of far flung, galaxy-spanning adventure…

So I would like to thank the writers who have given me so many hours of undiluted pleasure and inspiration. Thank you. My life is richer for your work.

This story, as science fiction stories often are, is about the colliding worlds of adolescence and adulthood.